Many orders placed by investors and traders begin to execute as soon as the markets open in the morning, which contributes to price volatility. A seasoned player may be able to recognize patterns and pick appropriately to make profits. But for newbies, it may be better just to read the market without making any moves for the first 15 to 20 minutes. The middle hours are usually less volatile, and then movement begins to pick up again toward the closing bell. Though the rush hours offer opportunities, it’s safer for beginners to avoid them at first.

It is important to understand the fundamentals of intraday trading in order to make consistent profits. A good tip is to trade with the current market trend. If the market is falling, sell first and buy later, and vice versa. Make an intraday trade plan and stick to the plan. Set your desired profit and stop-loss limit. Do not be greedy. Instead, book your profits at regular intervals. Maintain stop-loss levels. It helps you to limit your loss if the market does not perform. Also, choose highly liquid shares and trade in a small number of shares at a time, if you are not a seasoned trader.

Fundamental analysis usually involves using a company's financial statements, discounted cash flow modeling and other tools to assess a company's intrinsic value. Scalpers may trade on news or events that drastically affect a company’s value immediately after its release. In some cases, they may also use short term changes in fundamental ratios to scalp trades but typically they focus mostly on the technical charts.
Spreads are bonuses as well as costs - Stock Markets operate on a bid and ask based system. The numerical difference between the bid and ask prices is referred to as the spread between them. The ask prices are immediate execution (market) prices for quick buyers (ask takers); bid prices for quick sellers (bid takers). If a trade is executed at market prices, closing that trade immediately without queuing would not get you back the amount paid because of the bid/ask difference. The spread can be viewed as trading bonuses or costs according to different parties and different strategies. On one hand, traders who do NOT wish to queue their order, instead paying the market price, pay the spreads (costs). On the other hand, traders who wish to queue and wait for execution receive the spreads (bonuses). Some day trading strategies attempt to capture the spread as additional, or even the only, profits for successful trades.

Trading stocks intraday offers different opportunities than a traditional ‘buy and hold’ strategy. Speculating on stock prices via CFDs or spread betting for example, mean traders can profit from falling prices too. Margin or leverage also reduce the capital required to open a position. So you can take a position on the latest news release, product announcement or financial report – as well as technical indicators.

The tick volume is measured by how much the price is has ticked “up” or “down” in that particular candle bar. So the more people are getting in at the time, the longer the volume line will become. This is because there will be more movement in price action with all of those entry orders flying in. So it makes sense that the volume indicator is, first of all, very accurate, and second has no real lag to it. It is currently showing you what the price action is doing the number of “ticks” on that candle bar. This results in the bar looking like this:
Successful traders have to move fast, but they don't have to think fast. Why? Because they've developed a trading strategy in advance, along with the discipline to stick to that strategy. It is important to follow your formula closely rather than try to chase profits. Don't let your emotions get the best of you and abandon your strategy. There's a mantra among day traders: "Plan your trade and trade your plan."